RIO DE JANEIRO – From the early hours Sunday, thousands of Brazilians have poured into the streets in different states around the country to demonstrate either for or against a political trial that could lead to the impeachment of the country’s suspended head of state, Dilma Rousseff.

In 11 states – Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, the Federal District, Alagoas, Bahia, Maranhao, Minas Gerais, Para, Parana, Pernambuco and Santa Catarina – those against Rousseff demanded that the Senate, where the case is currently being studied, reach a decision to dismiss her.

At the instigation of social groups like the Vem pra Rua movement, one of the most anti-Rousseff organizations, thousands of Brazilians called on the Senate to vote in favor of her ouster.

Rousseff, political heir of ex-President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, is currently in the final stages of an impeachment trial that began last December and should be decided by early September, Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court, or STF, announced Saturday.

Should the Senate move to impeach Rousseff, the current interim president, Michel Temer, will continue in office until the end of the current government on Jan. 1, 2019.

To avoid such an extreme, Rousseff supporters organized demonstrations calling for her reinstatement in the states of Sao Paulo, Goias, Marnhao, Minas Gerais and Para.

The charges brought against Rousseff are based on a series of maneuvers the government carried out in 2014-2015 to cover up incidents of fiscal malfeasance.

These maneuvers could be ruled “crimes of responsibility,” which the Brazilian Constitution regards as grounds for impeachment.

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